Box for holding bottles



Se t. 25, 1934. A. M. HOOVEN ET AL BOX FOR HOLDING BOTTLES Filed March1, 1953 WIT/V565 HTTOFINEY Patented Sept. 25, 1934 PATE Nr OFFICE BoxFOR HOLDING BOTTLES Albert M. Hooven, Lansdowne, and Jay HarperFulkerson, Carbondale, Pa.

Application March :1, 1933, Serial No 659,074 2 Claims. (01. 217-19)This invention relates to boxes or crates for holding bottles and likearticles and particularly to improvements in boxes of the characteremployed for the packing, transportation and other handlingof milk orbeverage bottleseither filled or empty, boxes constructed in accordancewith our invention providing a number of material advantages over theboxes heretofore utilized for like purposes. invention constitutes thefirst substantial improvement in boxes of this character which hasappeared for many years.

While the invention is applicable to boxes intended for the reception ofnumerous sorts of bottles, it is particularly advantageous in connectionwith boxes designed for holding milk bottles of the customary form andwe shall therefore herein refer more especially to its employment inboxes of that character.

Milk bottle boxes heretofore in substantially universal use comprisewooden side and end panels having transversely extending crossed wiresriveted thereto to serve as a bottom and r to hold the wooden panels inassembledrelation with the assistance of suitable metallic corner bracesalso riveted to the panels, a number of other crossed wires similarlyriveted thereto and extending transversely of the box in planes in:termediate of its top and bottom serving as spacers for the bottles andmaintaining them substantially upright on thewire bottom, these wiresalso strengthening the box to some extent. Boxes ofthis characterpresent a number of serious disadvantages which have heretofore necessarily been tolerated in the industry apparently for the reason thatprior to the present invention no satisfactory way of overcoming themhas been promulgated. Thus the extension of thecross' wires throughthewood panelsso weakens the wood that the boxes frequently becomeunserviceable inuse through disintegration of" the panels at the pointor points against which the strain of the riveted cross wires is exertedand the latter therefore often pull out, rendering'the box unfit forfurther service. When the box 'isfilled with milk bottles and theinterstices between the bottles packedwith lumps of ice-for preservingthe milk, the melting of the ice frequently results in one or morepiecesthereof becoming lodgedbetween a bottle and the adja cent retainingwiresso that a hasty effort to remove the bottle may cause the ice tobecome wedged between the bottle and the wires insuch In fact, it isbelieved that our" These relatively large open spaces between thebottles and the wires also prevent eflicient refrigeration of the milkbecause of warm air currents circulating therethrough, melting the iceand permitting the resultant cold water to fall through the box withoutcontacting any of the bottles therein whereby the cooling effect thereofis largely lost, while the looseness of the bottles, particularly whenthe wires are bent, as is fre-' quently the case, permits the'bottles tocontact during handling of the box, producing undesirable noise and anadditional cause of bottle breakage.

' Furthermore, milk bottle boxes are sometimes used as washing cratesincleansing and steriliz ing the bottles; in accordance with this practicethe bottles are inverted in the box and then subjected to a spray of hotwater or other suitable cleansing fluid forcibly projected upwardlythrough the box bottom. When the bottom consists of crossed wires it isfrequently impossible to maintain the bottles upright in such invertedposition, which is necessary to permit proper access of the, cleansingfluid to the interiors thereof and effective cleansing of the bottles isthereby prevented, while the displacement of the, bottles mayflresult inadditional breakage losses during the cleansingprocess. Finally, it isimpracticable to ship such boxes in knockdown condition, for theirproper assembly by the consumer or ultimate user requires the possessionof machinery not ordinarily available to him.

A principal object of our invention, therefore, is to overcome these andother disadvantages of. the boxes of the prior art and additionally jtoprovideabox of the character aforesaid which presents certain advantagesand improvements incident to or arising out of the novel features andconstructions-which weemploy.

:"A further object of J the invention is to utilize perforated sheetmaterial for spacers and/ or for bottom panels in such boxes, wherebymaximum inherent strength consistent with satisfactorily lowmanufacturing costs and other advantages, are obtained. ,1

Another object of the invention is the provision? of a box havingstructural members of improved design, permitting convenient assembly bythe ultimateuser when the box is shipped in knocked down condition,and'also enabling such user to sidered impractical to make any materialrepair or replacement of parts in boxes of this character so that thosehaving seriously damaged parts have therefore usually been entirelydiscarded.

[8, Other purposes, objects and advantages of the invention will beunderstood by those skilled in the art, or will appear from thefollowing description of one embodiment thereof as exemplified by a milkbottle box or crate adapted to contain twelve bottles and therefore of astandard capacity for boxes of this character, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawing.

In the said drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the said box; Fig.2 is a top plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the.line 33 in Fig. 2, the normal position of a typical milk bottle beingindicated in dot and dash lines; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlargedhorizontal section of a corner portion of the box shown in the precedingfigures; Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on a plane somewhat nearer thetop of the box, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an improved cornerbrace comprehended by our invention. In the several figures likecharacters are used to designate the same parts.

According to our invention the milk bottle box shown in the drawingcomprises, broadly considered, a pair of wooden side panels 1 and a pairof wooden end panels 2 respectively of suit- 7; able dimensions, spacers3, preferably two in number, supported in horizontal grooves 4 in theside and end panels and a sheet metal bottom 5 having an upturnedperipheral flange 6 in substantial engagement with the outer surfaces ofthe wood panels adjacent their lower edges. The

corner portions 7 of the flange 6 extend upwardly a short distancebeyond the intermediate portions and may be outwardly offset as at '7 toreceive the lower ends of corner braces 8.

= Each of the latter, as shown in detail in Fig. 6,

comprises a right-angled metal plate 10 having intur-ned beads 11extending along its opposite edges, the upper end of the plate 10 beingsuitably cutout ,and inwardly bent as at 12, a downwardly turned fingeror hook 13 having sides respectively paralleling the right-angled websof the plate 10 and spaced inwardly thereof being provided to engage theinner surfaces of the adjacent wood panels substantially at the vertexof the angle formed thereby at the upper corner of the box when theparts are assembled. A stacking lug l4, suitably formed of sheet metal,may be spot welded or otherwise secured to the finger 13 of each cornerbrace, these lugs serving to retain a superjacent box in alignedposition when the completed boxes are stacked.

When the box is assembled the braces 8 lie at its corners with the beads11 seated in vertical grooves 17 provided in the side and end panels;the lower ends of the braces are disposed in the spaces between theoffset corners 7 of the bottom and the adjacent panels, and theirinwardly turned portions 12 rest on the, upper edges of the sides and.ends, in which position the fingers 13 engage the inner faces of thelatter thus locking them together. The bottom corners, lower ends of thebraces, and sides and ends are drilled before assembly for the receptionof bolts 20 which are passed through them after the braces are in place,and, as best shown in Fig. 4, securely hold the parts together when thethin nuts 21 on the ends of the bolts are snugly set up. The ends of thebolts are then preferably peened over to prevent the nuts from backingoff.

The spacers 3 are preferably formed from galvanized sheet steel, offairly heavy gauge, by a stamping operation and have a suitable numberof round holes 24 therein with downwardly extending integral collars 25immediately surrounding the holes to afford an appreciable area ofcontact between the bottles and the spacers when the former are insertedin the holes. The collars 25 may be of any desired depth, convenientlyabout oneeighth of an inch in a milk bottle box having two spacers,although when the box is to be used for other purposes considerablydeeper collars may be preferred. When the collars 25 are of sufficientdepth, say about two or three inches, only one spacer may sometimes beutilized, usually in a position corresponding to that of the upperspacer in the box shown in the drawing, the lower spacer being therebyeliminated, this construction being especially suited to boxes arrangedfor pint and half-pint milk bottles and for malt beverage and soft dringbottles.

The bottom 5 to which reference has been made may also be stamped out ofgalvanized sheet steel and the area to be included within the sides ofthe box may be reticulated and upwardly offset in a like manner; as bestshown in Figs. 2 and 4, we prefer to employ square cut-out openings 27in the bottom, leaving, in effect, a plurality of cross bars 28 and 29,all of which lie in a plane slightly above that of the peripheral edgesand thus afford a flat slightly yielding support for the bottles spacedabove the support on which the box itself may be disposed. A verydefinite advantage of a bottom of this character resides in its abilityto retain the inverted bottles in upright position, i. e., restingthereon with their mouths downwardly, as when being subjected to theaction of a washing machine; additionally, the bars 28, 29 thoroughlyatomize the spray of the latter, thus insuring thorough cleansing of thebottles disposed in the box, while the openings 27 at the corners of thebottom serve as sockets for reception of the stacking lugs 14 of asubjacen-t box, as indicated in Fig. 4, without special forming or otheroperations.

While the various parts of the 'box may be as sembled in a number ofways, a convenient one is as follows: The two end panels and one of thesides are first set vertically in proper relation to each other and twoof the braces 8 slipped into place at their abutting corners. Thespacers 3 are then slid into their respective grooves through the openside, the remaining side panel then set in place and the other cornerbraces applied, thus temporarily locking all the said parts together asa unit as the parts are preferably so designed as to fit tightlytogether. This unit can then be lowered into the bottom, the bolts 20then inserted, nuts 21 applied, and, preferably, the ends of the boltspeened over after the nuts have been set up. At any time by filing offthe peened-over ends, the nuts 21 may be readily removed to permit thebox to be taken apart for repair or replacement of any of the parts orto again return it to knockdown condition for shipment.

As has been pointed out, boxes constructed in accordance with ourinvention, being braced and strengthened with sheet steel, haveappreciably greater inherent strength than the boxes in which rivetedcross wires are utilized for the bottom and spacing members.Furthermore, the holes in the spacers substantially conform to the shapeof the bottles to be put into the box while the spaces between thebottles are constructed so that relatively highly efficientrefrigeration of bottles and their contents is effected when broken iceis packed therein around the bottles, as the water running from themelted ice can only escape through the spaces between the collars 25 andthe bottles and therefore substantially all of it is brought intocontact with one or more of the bottles to impart thereto its maximumcooling effect. Furthermore, the passage of warm air currents throughthe box is inhibited by the spacers and more adequate refrigeration ofthe box may thus be obtained with a given amount of ice than in boxesheretofore used under the same conditions and for like purposes. Theabsence of large openings through which pieces of ice can fall below theupper spacer also prevents the bottles becoming jammed in the box andtherefore difficult to remove.

Thus it will be apparent that our invention comprehends several distinctstructural improvements over the boxes of the prior art each havinginherent advantages and other desirable features of its own as well ascontributing to the general advance in the art resulting from theircooperative relation in our improved box. For example, the spacers notonly in themselves reduce bottle breakage, noise of handling and thelike, improve refrigeration of the contents of the box and enhance itssuitability for use as a washing crate, butalso, being integral units inthemselves, preferably supported in grooves in the wall panels, are,among other things, readily removable when the box is taken apart forshipment or repair and as readily replaceable in reassembling the box.Additionally, they materially increase the inherent strength andrigidity of the box as a whole through providing substantiallycontinuous lateral abutments for the sides to assist them in resistingcrushing forces and the like, while the collars 25, being integral withthe spacers, impart sufficient rigidity to the,,latter to preventbending under such'stresses as well as under the impact of bottlescarelessly deposited in or withdrawn from the box. Moreover, ourimproved corner braces are notably effective to strengthen the box andfirmly hold the ends of the wood panels, especially the upper portionthereof, in assembled relation and protect them from breakage, while thesheet metal bottom may yield slightly when a bottle is dropped thereonor the box is dropped on a floor or the like, thereby protecting thebottles from breakage, and also serves to enhance the strength andrigidity of the box as a whole.

While for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to comprehendand practise our invention we have herein illustrated and described withconsiderable particularity a milk bottle box constructed in accordancewith the principles thereof, we do not thereby desire or intend to inany way limit or confine the use of the invention to a box of thatcharacter as the principles thereof may be employed with equal facilityand advantage in other types of boxes and/or containers designed forreceiving articles other than milk bottles, and, if desired, variouschanges and modifications may be made in the design, construction andarrangement of the several parts irrespective of the particular kind ortype of box in which they are employed without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States:

1. A box of the class described comprising end and side panels, a bottomhaving an upturned flange adjacent its peripheral edge adapted to engagethe outer surfaces thereof, said flange having outwardly offset cornerportions, an angular corner brace respectively engaging the outersurfaces of each of said side panels and an adjacent end panel andextending between them and an offset portion of said flange including afinger engaging the inner surfaces of said panels, and means securingthe braces and bottom in fixed relation.

2. In a box of the class described, a pair of grooved panels disposedsubstantially normal to each other and a corner brace comprisingintegral right-angled webs engaging the outer faces of the panels andhaving inturned beads seating in the panel grooves and a right-angledfinger integral with and extending parallel to said webs and engagingthe inner faces of the panels.

ALBERT M. HOOVEN. JAY HARPER FULKERSON.

